This is a very interesting concept. A 'virtual' guide to climbing one of the USA's more popular alpine volcanos, Mt Ranier (4,320m) located in Washington State. The target market for this 'guide' is obvious. On any one day hundreds of climbers attempt this mountain and are usually guided and are charged $1000+. This video would be a handy 'gift' for each client and a good thing to watch before a 'summit bid', especially if you have never done any climbing before!

The video is packed full of wise mountain advice relating directly to climbing Ranier. Information about equipment, avalanche danger, rockfall, weather and route details are explained using impressive moving 3D models of the mountain. Much information comes from professional guide Eric Simpson who features heavily throughout the video. Each camp and approuch is explained in detail giving you a good feel for the overall scale of climbing a mountain which takes an average person 4-5 days to summit and return.

I found much of the music very cheesy - lots of cock rock guitar solos and jumpy edits to try and make footage of people tramping over snow exciting. The point of view shots of climbers added to the video in many places - but also started detracting later when it became overused.

The video does not contain any amazing footage of hard core climbers doing crazy stunts. Instead the video shows the journey of an average team attemtping the summit by the easier routes. The mountain itself has very little technical routes and most climbs can be done with a set of basic crampons and a walking axe. Large glaciers are the biggest danger facing the climber of Ranier. No technical information is given about alpine climbing. Technques such as crevasse rescue, crampon technque and glacier travel are not discussed. In this way the video is limited in its appeal. Unless you are planning to climb Ranier this video will have no interest. I found it mildly interesting as a souviner of the climb (I climbed this mountain 3 years ago).

Further Reading:Ascend DVD - Details and purchasing from the maker's web site.